Ten of our favorite things from 0-4 months

In the girls first 4 months of life, we used and played with a lot of of products! Here are ten of the things we loved and used the most.

I'll start with our favorite toy to date, the Bright Starts Twisty Bug. First of all, Bright Starts isn't the greatest brand; I've noticed that most of the Bright Starts products are kind of cheapish. We also tried out a Bright Starts crib mobile that we hated and took back because the music sounded tinny and reminded me of an evil circus. In fact, I probably should have kept it for our annual Halloween haunt. However, the Bright Starts Twisty Bug is AWESOME. It's the toy that I reach for first when one (or both) of my girls is/are crying. It looks kind of cheesy and plastic-y but it makes the funniest sounds when you pull on its tail! It giggles and coos and makes strange noises like "a-woop-a-doop-a-cheeewwoooo" or "mmmmwah!" My girls really love it; they kick their legs, bat their arms, and try to talk back to it. It has a sweet, realistic voice that doesn't get annoying, even after listening to it 3,000 times a day. Another benefit is that its pretty small, so I can take it wherever we go. And best of all? It's only 6 bucks! Score! (Mental note to self: I need to buy a back-up Twisty Bug in case it ever gets discontinued and ours gets lost or the batteries die).
The next thing that we use a lot is the Fisher Price Rainforest Gym! The good thing about a play gym is that there is somewhere soft to lay them and the toy bars provide a place to hang toys that can be changed around. The Rainforst Gym playmat is pretty to look at but after letting my girls play on it for awhile, I noticed that they really only seemed interested in one of the toys: the little smiley monkey. They think the monkey is a crack-up! The other toys that it comes with aren't all that interesting. They toy that you see the baby playing with in the picture is super-boring. Its a hard plastic spinner that has a raised relief showing animals - but its not painted so the girls can't see them. Easy fix though. Just remove the boring toys and replace with interesting ones.

Ok, I bought this little V-tech Bee from Walmart using Site-to-Store before my girls were born because it had great reviews. When he got here, I was kinda disappointed because I thought his songs were kinda boring and there weren't enought of them. But my girls LOVE him! I think its the happy face. He's Jocelyns best buddy and she loves to bat at his crinkle wings and "talk" to him.

When my girls were still newborn, I noticed that they were very interested in the ceiling fan. I couldn't figure out why until I read something about babies vision being undeveloped and that they can only see high-contrast (black and white) images and patterns. I saw that our ceiling fan was very dark against the white ceiling and figured that must be why they liked to stare at it. Then I began noticing them looking around for high-contrast things to focus their eyes on when they were on the changing table or in their crib. I began to look for something that they could focus on. I found a cool "Art for Baby" book and a Stim-Mobile that both provided these patterns and images, but I noticed that both were very simple black and white images. So instead of buying them, I Google-imaged (is that a verb?) "art for babies" and "black and white images", copied them to a document, printed and cut them out. Then I taped them to places that my babies often had view of; the shelf above their changing table, the cabinets in the bathroom (one has to wait her turn in the bouncer while I bathe the other), and a few other places. I put them up and the girls began to study them right away. I switched them out with new ones every now and then to keep them interested. Here's a picture of some of the "flash cards" that I made. They don't look at them so much now that they can see better, but I very much recommend making or buying these for newborns! Simply Saline. This stuff is great! My little Ivy is often congested and has a hard time breathing through it. Poor girl. It makes me realize how useful a little skill like blowing our noses can be. At first I was using the drops that come in little plastic tubes that the pediatrician gave me. Ivy hated it when I'd squeeze big drops into her nose. Simply Saline is a very fine mist that she can't even feel. I just spray it in her nose and then feed her a bottle and she sucks it all out while drinking her bottle (yum :P)

"The Red Bird." This was the girls first FIRST toy. He actually came as part of another toy, the Baby Einstein Tunnel. The bird makes very realistic tweety noises when you squeeze his belly. I think the tweeting and the contrasting belly and eyes is what first caught their attention. They've always loved him though and he currently hangs out on Jocelyn's carseat handle. I found out that he can be bought seperately on Amazon.

Finding a good lullaby CD is priceless. I bought a Fisher Price rainforest one (too fake), a piano one (too high pitched), one with words (too stimulating), and a few others that had some good songs mixed with some annoying ones. I was previewing lullaby CD's on Amazon and I ran across this Disney one. It's actually very non-Disneyish. There isn't any singing, just soft instrumental that is perfect for bedtime. I also bought the "Lullaby Album II" but this one is much better - its the one we start at bathtime every night. I only wish it was longer because I end up replaying it a couple times before they get to sleep. I couldn't have made a CD this good! Very worth the money!

Lamaze has some GREAT hanging toys! I had such a hard time picking just one out. I liked Freddie the Firefly at first, but then Mortimer the Moose was cute too. Tina the Tiger had big eyes, Olivia the Owl had a neat mirror, Trotter the Pony was super bright, and Captain Calamari made me laugh with his eyepatch. Finally I decided on Jaques the Peacock because he had LOTS of colors and textures, a mirror, a squeaky toy, and the backside of his "feathers" had black and white patterns. He adorns Ivy's carseat handle and she is always watching him during car rides and in the store. I'd highly recommend any Lamaze hanging toy!
The Bumbo. Such a dumb name for such a cool idea. Babies hate exercise. So don't be surprised if they don't like the Bumbo right away. Its a workout for young babies to sit in this thing because they have to hold their heads up. The key is to start out slow, giving your baby only a few minutes of Bumbo time a day. Then add another few minutes or have them sit in it a few times a day for short periods of time. My babies HATE tummy time (tummy time, if you don't know, is recommended to help them build back, neck, and arm muscles). They don't especially love the Bumbo, but it sits them up and lets them look around which provides a good distraction from the "workout" part of it. They are getting better at using it and Jocelyn can sit in it for a good 10 or 15 minutes before she gets tired enough to want out. One word of caution though: if baby happens to poop while sitting in the Bumbo, it often leads to major blowouts up their back!

And last but definately not least is the Fisher Price Rainforst Bouncer. This toy probably buys me the most time out of any other toy we have. I'm not even kidding when I say I wish they made one of these things for adults. It mesmerizes me. There are so many moving parts, sounds, and lights, its no wonder that it holds a babies attention for so long. The best part of the toy is the blue waterfall in the middle. It lights up an aqua color and pieces of twisted plastic rotate inside, making it look like a moving waterfall - sooo pretty! The hanging parrot is really sensitive and he'll spin around and around at baby's slightest touch. Poor Jocelyn about launches herself out of the bouncer because she kicks so hard in excitement when she gets to sit in this chair.

There you have it! Our favorites from birth to 4 months! If you read all of this I'm sorry you were so bored, but I hope you'll try some of this stuff if you have a young baby - we loved it!